Volunteers trained in use of life-saving equipment
Representatives of organisations that have volunteered to become custodians of potentially life-saving pieces of kit came together last week to receive support and training in its use.
More than 100 bleeding control kits have now been circulated to organisations right across Wirral. Some of them are contained in eye-catching, external red Emergency Bleeding Control cabinets that are can be accessed at any time by calling 999. Other kits are stored securely inside the premises of a host organisation.
The bleed control kits have been devised by KnifeSavers, a not-for-profit programme founded by trauma doctors at the Major Trauma Centre at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool, in conjunction with victims of knife trauma and their families.
At the training event last week at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton, representatives of KnifeSavers were on hand to give people the skills and confidence to slow blood loss and demonstrate how the kits work, providing training to people who work for the organisations who will be looking after the kits.
The principle is similar to that of community defibrillators - designed to provide the same immediate treatment for blood loss as defibrillators provide to someone who is in cardiac arrest.
The treatment from the emergency kits aims to reduce the amount of blood from a wound that might be lost while a rapid response ambulance crew is making its way to the scene. Without treatment, someone who has been stabbed could bleed to death within five minutes - an ambulance would likely not make it to the scene within that time.
The council’s roll out of the bleeding control kits is a Community Safety Partnership initiative funded by the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner.
The introduction of the bleed control kits could be invaluable in saving a life, not just in relation to knife crime but in the event of other traumatic incidents that require would packing or the application of a tourniquet to prevent significant blood loss. As a council we are extremely grateful to the organisations that have volunteered to host and maintain these kits for the benefit of their community.
My priority, and that of Merseyside Police and our Violence Reduction Partnership, is to protect our communities and to prevent tragedies from ever happening. We sincerely hope that these emergency bleeding control kits are never needed, but if they are, they could make the difference between life and death.
Thousands of these kits have already been distributed to schools, community groups, taxis, clubs, and bars across our region. By making more kits available to people in Wirral, it means more lives could be saved, should they ever be required, so I’m incredibly grateful to the people and organisations that have stepped up to keep these kits in their premises and host these cabinets.
Knife crime incidents have fallen by nearly 10% over the past year, but even one victim is one too many. That’s why, with the support and dedication of brilliant organisations like KnifeSavers, we are working hard to educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives as well as training the public to respond in an emergency.
This is a collective effort, and together we are determined to make Merseyside a safer place for everyone.
